Wednesday, June 6, 2012

I've Been Doing A Lot Of This

I don't know what it is like for you at your home. I know everyone is in a different place in life, but here at our cottage there is a never ending procession of dishes and housework. Especially dishes.

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I think I have washed 9 million dishes this week alone. The other day I washed several times, in addition to the dishwasher running. Then after an evening of fun which of course required popcorn and something to drink, I got up to a sink full of dishes. Sigh. I usually wash up whatever is in the sink before bed because I HATE getting up and seeing dishes piled up in the sink, but I didn't do it. Tim sometimes prefers that I leave it until morning. Our dishwasher doesn't work that well and we've talked of just getting rid of it and using the space for storage shelves or something. We've got a good system going after dinner, where we all work at washing, drying and putting away. Takes 10 minutes. But it is the dishes in the morning and in the afternoon - I can't just leave them and cook with in a messy kitchen. I have to clean it up first, then cook. Then sit down for our meal, then get back up and clean it up again! Ahhh....my Mom says "paper plates" but I don't want to waste the money on that.

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I have been doing a lot of this too. Yesterday I made Chocolate Chip Peanut Granola Bars.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup natural
peanut butter

1/3 cup local
honey

1/4 cup coconut
oil

1 1/2 cups oats

1 1/2 Tablespoons
wheat germ

1/2 cup ground
flax seed

1/4 cup peanuts

1/4 cup chocolate
chips

Steps:

Melt peanut
butter, honey, and coconut oil together in a small sauce pan over low/medium
heat, stirring constantly. It only takes
a minute or two to melt.

In mixing bowl,
combine all other ingredients except for chocolate chips, and stir well.

Pour liquid
mixture over dry mixture and stir til well combined.

Let cool in bowl
for several minutes.

Place mixture into
foil lined 8×8 pan and press down firmly.

Sprinkle chocolate
chips over top and press down firmly with hands.

Place in fridge or
freezer to set.

Flip the foil out
onto cutting board and cut into desired bar sizes. I like to cut a dozen rectangle shaped bars.

Store in fridge
for best results.

This is the second time I've made them and they are terrific. I had been looking for homemade granola bar recipes and this is a keeper!

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This last thing, bed making, is a delight to me - I love to make a pretty bed. I have a lacy top sheet that I pull back over the comforter and then I use lots of pillows piled on...so pretty. I also like to sneak into my kids rooms, on occasion and make their beds for them. I want them to catch the vision of how a pretty, neat bed makes a room look great. I also believe that having your bed made makes your room instantly look clean! I know a few women who don't make their beds, they say "I'm just going to get back in it" but I couldn't stand to not make my bed! A few days a week I pull the comforter and sheets back European style and air the bed out. But even then the bedding is neat, the pillows piled on all fluffed and in their places!

Today, I am working in the store. It's a different pace there, and I am looking forward to it.

So does your family generate a lot of dishes? Laundry? Require lots of food to be made? For some reason my gang wants to eat at least three times a day and my little boy is always hungry!

I hope you have sunny skies where you are. We do today, but it's not going to last. Good thing I mowed the yard yesterday, because more rain is on it's way. Have a really wonderful day, okay?

11 comments:

Indeed we do generate a lot of dishes, though there are only two of us, I sometimes wonder where the piles of dishes come from. ~smile! And like you I love a freshly made bed, it just pulls a room together. This week has been a week of catching up with things inside for me.

Thanks for coming by and taking the time to leave me a sweet comment. You ask how I can my yellow squash, I pressure can them, which I will be doing today.Read your last post, and enjoyed it so much your flowers and thoughts were beautiful! I have always enjoyed Linda Dillow's writings. Enjoy your day.Hugs,Sue

Since I'm on the backside of family growing called the empty nest, I don't have the quantity that I used to have. I do have more this summer with one girl home from school. Fortunately, she blesses me by being more help to do it all too.

I seem to always have dishes to do, too. I used to think paper plates were helpful until Clarence commented that the plates are about the easiest things to wash. Now I tend to think the same thing and just use regular plates.

I am so thankful to have a dishwasher-I never had one until we did our kitchen a few years ago. I don't mind doing dishes, really, but it's nice to have a dw to take care of the bulk of the mess.

I used to be one of those who didn't make my bed-my mom had never insisted we do it growing up so I never developed the habit. Funny how making my girls make theirs every day made me start making mine faithfully. I didn't want them to walk into my room, see my bed messy, and wonder why I made them make theirs. Now it would feel strange to have it unmade...

Dishes... yes. I so understand every word. I once saw on 'Down to Earth' blog that Rhonda built shelves where the dishwasher used to be then put a pretty little curtain across the front. This is where she stores her canning supplies. I thought it was brilliant as canning is an ordeal here because everything has to be stored in the basement for lack of room. How often I would love to can just a couple of jars of something but it doesn't seem worth the trouble. Unfortunately, I couldn't get my husband on board with the idea... yet!

And I just have to say that you look marvelous. I'm so impressed at how your hair stays just so with all of that scrubbing and bending. Where do you find the time to do your make-up? Amazing! ;)

You know, it's just the two of us, but we seem to make A LOT of dishes too! And the very, very FIRST thing I do when I start a meal is to make a sink full of soapy dishwater....My mom taught me that and I just CAN'T start cooking without doing that. And, like you, I MUST tidy the kitchen before I start cooking. :o)

I've lived without a dishwasher before and I didn't really mind washing the dishes, but what drove me crazy is always having dishes/drinking glasses sitting in the sink or on the counter. At least with the dishwasher they were kept out of sight!

And I quite agree with having a made up bed, I can't STAND to get into a messy bed. And besides our kitty likes to sleep on the bed and if I don't make it then I get cat hair on my sheets.

I always say, if you are going to eat, there are going to be dishes. (Consequently, there are lots of dishes here!) My dishwasher ranks right up there with the air conditioner as a Very Important Machine. I wouldn't choose to live without it.

I agree that the room automatically looks put together when the bed is made. My girls are wonderfully consistent with making their beds.

(True confessions now...) On the other hand, I miss days here and there. All of our bedrooms are upstairs, and our only bathroom is downstairs (one of the challenges of an old house!). When I get up in the morning, my 50-something kidneys require an immediate trip downstairs (I know...TMI!), and then I get into my day and never make it back upstairs.

Housework is something that is never completely done...but there is such satisfaction in making a house a home.

We've had a rainy week here too! Yup, we sure seem to have lots of dishes all the time. And now that we've usually got three or four extra little people over at dinner time the dirty dishes have multiplied. But I don't mind. But i am thankful for my dishwasher. =)